First Day of School

Magnus Carlsen – Fabiano Caruana

1st World Fischerandom Chess Championship; semifinal game 1; Høvikodden, October 27, 2019

rbknbnqr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RBKNBNQR w HAha - 0 1

Position 744

Time control for the first four semifinals games is “slow rapid” (45 minutes for first 40 moves, 15 minutes for the rest of the game). 1. d4 f6 2. e4 d5 3. f3 c6 4. Bg3 Bxg3 5. Nxg3 Nde6 6. exd5 cxd5 7. c4 0-0-0 8. Nc3 Nc7 9. Qe3 dxc4 10. Qxe7 Ng6 11. Bf5+ Bd7 12. Qe4 Qf7 13. 0-0 Rhe8 14. Qg4 Kb8 15. Rfe1 Bc6 16. Rad1 Rxe1+ 17. Rxe1 Ne7 18. d5? No doubt White’s position, with an isolani on d4, was anything but comfortable, whereas Black was ready to sit on d5 with all his family, but Carlsen’s solution to handle his strategic “uneasiness” is terribly wrong. 18. ... Bxd5 19. Nxd5 Qxd5 20. Bxh7 g6 21. Qe4 Qc5+ 22. Kh1 f5 23. Qh4 Rd7 24. Qh6

24. ... Qe5!! A spectacular Queen sacrifice, which not only threatens mate on the first rank (idem to say the White Rook), but also the Bishop (Δ ... Qe5-h8). 25. Qc1. 25. Rb1 Qxb2! is even too much to add. 25. ... Qg7 26. Bxg6 Qxg6 27. Qxc4 a6 28. Qf4 Qe6 29. Qb4 Qxa2 30. Nxf5 Ncd5 31. Qd4 Qa5 32. Qe5+ Qc7 33. Nxe7 Rxe7 34. Qh8+ Ka7 35. Qd4+ Qb6 36. Qxb6+ Kxb6 37. Rxe7 Nxe7 38. g4 Kc5 39. Kg2 a5 40. h4 a4 41. f4 b5 42. f5 Kd6 43. h5 Ke5 44. h6 Kf6 45. Kf3 b4 46. Ke4 a3 47. g5+ Kf7 48. h7 Ng6 0 : 1. “I felt good after the opening, but then I played badly”, Carlsen summed.